Children's Singing Game "Tideo" (Information and Lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of two part pancocojams series about the American singing game (play party song) "Tideo".

Part I presents information about and lyric examples of the song "Tideo".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/youtube-videos-of-childrens-singing.html for Part II of this two part pancocojams series. Part II presents instructions about one way of playing (dancing) to the song "Tideo" and showcases various YouTube videos of "Tideo".

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.

All copyright remains with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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ONLINE EXCERPT ABOUT THE OLD TIME MUSIC SONG/CHILDREN SINGING GAME "TIDEO"
From http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/tideo--indiana-play-party-1916.aspx
"Tideo- Indiana Play-Party 1916
Tideo/Toddy-O/Jingle at the Window

Old-Time Fiddle Tune and Play Party Song;

ARTIST: from Indiana Play-Party Songs 1916

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes

EARLIEST DATE: 1800s

RECORDING INFO: Jingle at the Windows

At- Toddy-O
Seeger, Ruth Crawford (eds.) / American Folk Songs for Children, Doubleday/Zephyr Books, Sof (1948), p173
Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p160 [1930s] (Tideo)
Fox, Lillian M. / Folk Songs of the United States, Calif. State Series, Sof (1951), p37b
Brame, Thelma. McIntosh, David S. / Folk Songs and Singing Games of the Illinois Ozarks, SIU Press, Bk (1974), p 66 [1948/12/09] (Ti-De-O)
Durbin, Carl. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p313/#525 [1927/06/05]
Lomax, John A.. Lomax, Alan / Folksongs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p400/#208 (Tideo)
Seeger, Peggy and Mike. American Folk Songs for Children, Rounder 8001/8002/8003, CD (1977), trk# 2-41

SOURCES: Talley; Brown; Mudcat

OTHER NAMES: "Toddy-O;" "Jingle At The Window, Tidy-O;" "Jingle At The Window;" "Ti-De-O" "Jingle at th' Winder" (Randolph); "Pass One Window Toddy-O"

RELATED TO: "Down in Jay Bird Town" "There Goes a Redbird Through the Window;"

NOTES: "Tideo," a fiddle tune and play party song printed as early as 1911 in the [J]ournal of American Folk Lore, has a variety of similar names including Ti-De-O, Toddy-O, Jingle at the Window. Randolph suggests (Randolph, III, 313), on the authority of Lair, Swing Your Partner, that the name "Tide"

[...]

Textually "Tideo," often called "Jingle At The Window" (Randolph, III, 313-14), is closely related to "Down in Jay Bird Town" and "There Goes a Redbird Through the Window" which are other play-party songs. "Down in Jay Bird Town" is found in the 1916 Play-Party Songs in Indiana.

Typical lyrics of Tideo appear:

Pass one window, Tideo.
Pass two windows, Tideo.
Pass three windows, Tideo.
Jingle at the window Tideo.

Tideo, Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Tideo, Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.

[...]

TODDY O

Hands all aroun', toddy-o.
Toddy-o, toddy-o;
First to the left, then to the right,
Swing aroun' ole toddy-o.

Journal of American folklore‎ 1911; Page 311

Pass one window, toddy O
Pass two windows, toddy O
Pass three windows, toddy 0,
Pass four windows, toddy O,

Swing to the centre and bow to your beau,
And all go jingle at the toddy O.

Folk song: U.S.A.: the 111 best American ballads‎ - Page 82
by Alan Lomax, Charles Seeger, Ruth Crawford Seeger - Music - 1947 - 407 pages

Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, low.

Pass one window tideo
Pass two windows Tideo
Pass three windows Tideo
Jingle at the window Tideo

Jinglen Jinglen Jinglen Joe
Jingle at the window Tideo
Jinglen Jinglen Jinglen Joe
Jingle at the window Tideo

Ruth Crawford Seeger, in American Folk Songs for Children, has just one verse and refrain for "Tideo," which she calls "Jingle At the Windows":

Jingle at the window, Tideo,
Skip two windows, Tideo,
Skip three windows, Tideo,
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

Jing-ling, jing-ling, jing-ling Jo,
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

Her source was "Tideo," in William A. Owens, Swing and Turn: Texas Play-Party Games, Tardy Publishing Co, 1936.

LEAD A MAN

Lead a man, di-dee-oe, lead a man, di-dee-o;
Lead a man, di-dee-oe, lead a man, di-dee-o;
You swing heads, di-dee-o, I swing feet, di-dee-o
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, walkin' on de ice, di-dee-o!

Ladies change, di-dee-o, ladies change, di-dee-o;
Ladies change, di-dee-o, ladies change, di-dee-o.
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o,
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o?

Oh my love, di-dee-o, oh my love, di-dee-o.
Oh my love, di-dee-o, oh my love, di-dee-o.
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o,

[title given as "Dance Song" in Dorothy Scarborough {assisted by Ola Lee Gulledge}, "On The Trial of Negro Folk Songs" { Folklore Associates edition 1963; pp.115, 116; originally published by Harvard University press, 1925}

Other versions have the tag "Down in Alabam" or Down in Alabama":

The American play-party song‎ - Page 179 by Benjamin Albert Botkin- 1963 - 400 pages

2. Nothing was heard but a jingle on the window,
Jingle on the window, jingle on the window,
Nothing was heard but a jingle on the window,
Down in Alabama

The University studies‎ - Page 333 by University of Nebraska (Lincoln campus) - Education - 1934 For "Jingle at the Window," see DOWN IN ALABAMA. A (Sung by Charlie Carr, Noble, Cleveland County.)

1. Skip one window, tideo,
Skip two windows, tideo,
Skip three windows, tideo,
Skip four windows, tideo.

2. Skip to the center And choose your beau, ...

or

1 Skip one window, tideo,
Skip two windows, tideo.
Skip three windows, tideo.
Jingle at the window tideo.


There may be a relationship with the fiddle songs titled Dineo and Darneo associated with Sail Away Ladies, a song first recorded by Uncle Dave Macon (which uses di-dee-o in the lyrics), and Sally Ann. Here's some info from Andrew Kuntz:

DINEO- AKA and see "Di‑nee‑o, Ladies," "Darneo," "Sally Ann" Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, southwestern Va. A Major. Standard tuning. The name "Dineo" is particular to the Franklin/Floyd County area of western Virginia; it is more widely known under the title "Sally Ann." Di-nee-o = a variant of ‘Dinah’? Recorded by Herbert Halpern for the Library of Congress (2739-A-3), 1939, from the playing of Taylor Houston and the Houston Bald Knob String Band (Franklin County, Va.) during a dance. Rounder 0057, Ted Boyd & Charlie Woods ‑ "Old Originals, vol. 1" (1978). McCray's other unissued tune is listed as "Dinah, Old Lady," which sounds to me like a mis-hearing of the regional favorite, "Dineo Ladies"

SALLY ANN- AKA and see “Beano,” “Darneo,” "Dineo." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. One version of the tune was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's. See also related tunes "Big Sweet Taters in Sandy Land," "Great Big Tater(s) in Sandy Land/Lot," "Sandy Land," "Sail Away Ladies" (Kentucky/Tennessee), "Wish(ed) I Had My Time Again" (Ky.). One version of the tune goes by the name "Dineo" in the Franklin/Floyd County area of southwestern Virginia, and it was recorded as “Darneo” by the Blue Ridge Highballers (Yazoo CD 2046).


Tideo THE PLAY-PARTY IN INDIANA 1916

Mrs. Leslie Beall.

1 . Pass one window, Tideo, Pass two windows, Tideo,
Pass three windows, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

2. Tideo, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

3. I asked that girl to be my wife,
She said, "No, not on your life."
I asked her mother and she said, "No."
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

4. Tideo, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

b. At 1, all form a single circle, with each boy in front of his partner. Each player has his left hand on the right shoulder of the person in front of him. Circle left. At 2, each boy makes a half turn to the right and swings his partner.

At 3, each girl steps in front of her partner and all form a single circle again in position as 1.

At 4, each boy turns and swings the girl behind him in the circle.

Begin the song again and continue the game until each girl has been partner to every boy and returns to her original partner, c. The first stanza of a variant which Mrs. Ames calls "Pass One Window Toddy-o" (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. XXIV, p. 311), is the same as that given above, but the tune is different.

Miss Goldy Hamilton (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. XXVII, p. 294) prints the words of stanza 1.
-snip-
The editor of this article indicates that the word "tideo" is a "corrupted" (folk processed) form of the word "toddy" (as in "hot toddy" - a usually hot drink consisting of liquor (such as rum), water, sugar, and spices). I don't agree. Instead, I believe "tideo" is a folk process form of a nickname for  such as "Dinah" ("Din nee o") or other names such as those mentioned in the Sally -Ann excerpt given above.. 
-snip-
Here's the meaning of the word "jingle" from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jingle jingle- "to make a light clinking or tinkling sound"
-snip-
A person "jingling" at the window may be doing so to furtively alert someone that she or he is there.

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This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.

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